Coin lock device



Nov. 7, 1939.

CO IN LOCK DEVICE Filed April 16. 1956 l-. J. DIXON .i 2,179,325,4

Patented Nov. 7, 1939 PATENT :OFFlCE comv Loon DEVICE Leo J. Dixon, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor,- by mesne assignments, to The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Cincinnati; Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 16, 1936, Serial No. 74,620

` 1 claim. (C1. 194.-97)

This invention relates to a coin lock device.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a coin lock device that will reject a combination of a coin and a foreign object such as a match stem, salt, and the like.

A further object is to provide a coin lock so constructed that it will not jam but will eject any salt. When one 'of these foreign objects is placed alongside the small coin in the` device, it will cause the various trips or dogs to be inoperative as the foreign object will wedge in place, thus holding the trips or dogs in a locked position.

When this occurs the coin lock can be operated continuously with smaller sized coins thus causing a loss to the owner of the device which the coinlock controls.

In designing a coin lock that cannot be cheated, as explained above, it is necessary to determine what actions take place in the coin lock and to devise means to allow these actions to be carried through despite the presence of foreign material, thus rejecting any coin or object except the one the lock was specifically designed to receive.

In illustrating my invention I have shown it, by way of example, as applied to a coin slide structure of well known construction, but have so constructed the floor portion of the coin slide frame that any foreign objects attempted to be entered with a spurious or undersized coin would be discharged and a complete operative stroke of the coin slide defeated.

With the foregoing `and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can he made Within the scope of what is claimed, '.fithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a` side elevation of the complete coin lock. i

Figure 2 is a` perspective View of the complete coin lock.

Figure 3 is a partial bottom View of the coin lock.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary bottom plan View 5 of the slide frame, showing a `match splinter wedged in place with a small sized coin.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan View of the coin slide. i

By referring to the drawing it will be seen that 10 there is provided an ordinary coin lock comprising a mounting plate or bracket member I, a coin, p slide member 2 having an open sided aperture for the coin, as seen in Figure 3, and a body or guide member 3. The guide member 3 is of the usual 15 form comprising a casting through the center of which the slide member 2 operates. The usual latch means or dogs which pass or reject the coins and cooperate with the coin slide to latch it or release it, are designated by numerals 4, 5, 20 and 6. In an ordinary coin lock device the dogs 4 and 5 can be easily wedged in an inoperative position by means of foreign objects and will remaininoperative indefinitely, allowing the coin slide to be advance-d through the guide member 25 3. In my device I have formed the bottom Wall or iloor portion 'l of the guide member, so that there is a cut away portion, in advance of the usual coin discharge of such member, below and in the plane of movement of the free ends of the dogs 30 4 and 5. The nose of the dog 5 is adapted to abut the exposed edge of the coin aperture when no coin or an undersized coin is attempted to be passed through the slide. With the oor formed in this manner any foreign object that may be 35 inserted in the device will immediately drop out,

[thus allowing the dogs 4 and 5 to function normally. The normal function of the plvoted dog 4 is that of entering the holes in washer-like slugs or the opening in the coin slide, when no 40 coin or slug is present, to preclude full advancement of the slide. l

Should a portion of a match stem or the like be inserted in the well or aperture of the usual coin slide for the purpose of we-dging a smaller 45 sized coin in place in the slide, and the slide advanced, the match will ultimately be `wedged or forced in the adjoining side edge of the guide member, where it will contact the free edge of the adjoining dog 5 and retain that dog in a 50 -position where it will clear the coin slide and not interfere with its subsequent movements, thus permitting the user to substitute small coins for the proper ones and cheating the machine to which the coin device is attached. With my in- 55 vention, by removing the bottom or oor portion of the guide member in the zone of the operating ends of the dogs 4 and 5, any match stems or the like inserted in the coin slide alongside a small-sized coin Will, upon being advanced, to the operating ends of such dogs, drop by gravity below the guide member so that the dogs Will operate in the manner intended and arrest the movement or proper stroke of the coin slide when any coin, other than the proper one, is attempted to be passed through the coin device.

It will be noted, as seen in Figure 3, that the out out portion removed from the floor or bottorn wall I of the guide member 3 partly intersects the coin aperture of the slide 2, but that it is of a size so as not to permit the coin to be passed through it, the coin being properly supported on the adjoining portion of the oor of the guide member.

What I claim is:

A coin device of the character described, comprising a coin slide having an open-sided aperture to receive a coin, a guide member for said slide including a floor portion to support the coin during its travel with the coin slide, the coin being free todrop from such floor portion at the end of the operative stroke of the coin slide, said floor portion having an opening therein at one side thereof in advance of its coin-discharge point and With which the open-sided portion of said coin-slide aperture is adapted to register for vpermitting the discharge of foreign matter inserted in the open-sided portion of such aperture With an undersized coin, and a dog applied to said guide member for abutting engagement with the exposed edge of the coin-aperture to arrest the movement of the slide Whenever other than a propersized coin is contained therein, the operating end of said dog being disposed adjacent the foreign-matter discharge opening in the floor portion of said guide member.

v LEO J. DIXON. 

